The invention relates to a discharge head with which fluid, pasty, powderlike or similar flowable media can be discharged through a nozzle orifice, more particularly atomized in a spray cone or the like. Preferably the nozzle orifice is intended to be deeply inserted, for example at least 20, 40 or 50 mm deep into a body cavity, such as the mouth cavity to then enable the medium to be discharged.
The discharge head comprises a head body forming substantially the entirety of its outer surface or a head part located on a centerline, the head part forming the section of the head body which is widest in cross-section through the corresponding centerline or longitudinal axis in each case, e.g. with the outer shell or face end wall of a cap shape. The nozzle orifice is oriented radially outwards transversely or at right angles to the centerline of the head part and may be located in a radially protruding portion of the head part. This discharge portion or discharge protrusion may be formed directly by the cap shell or by a discharge beak protruding beyond the outer circumference of the former roughly by the cited degree of insertion, the free cross-section of said discharge beak amounting to less than 15, 10 or 7 mm and in the free end surface area of which the nozzle orifice may be provided.
The discharge head may form as the actuating head a finger grip for actuating a discharging dispenser, a plunger pump, for example, or a pressurized aerosol container or the like, whereby as a result of the pressure actuation the discharge unit to be held and to be shortened in a single hand supplies the medium from the discharging dispenser under pressure to the nozzle and is swirled in the region thereof by transverse flow so that it is atomized at the nozzle orifice in being released from the discharge head into the open. The nozzle or the atomizing means directly adjacent to the nozzle orifice may be configured as a single part or multi-part. In the case of a multi-part configuration there is a risk that a nozzle part, particularly the nozzle part through which the nozzle orifice passes, releases itself under the dispensing pressure from the remaining discharge head even when it is retained by a snap-lock fitting, by a press-fit or the like.
If this nozzle part is inserted against the discharging direction of the nozzle orifice into its mount or releasably so roughly in the discharging direction without causing a material fracture, it may be expelled by the dispensing pressure and result in a serious health hazard, when employed in a bodily opening, more particularly by gaining access to the trachea of the user. A similar situation applies also to an integral configuration of the nozzle or of the guiding means for the medium or when the nozzle part may become loose partly or fully from the remaining discharge head due to damage by fracture.
This can be avoided by relatively simple means when the nozzle axis and the actuating axis or centerline of the head part are located parallel to each other or in the same axis, since then the discharge port can be formed integrally with the widened head part to be actuated by the fingers and, apart from this, the nozzle core can be inserted in a mount at the upstream end, this mount connecting the medium pressure space of the discharging dispenser directly and linearly to the nozzle. In this mount the nozzle end passage is located, which is usually very narrow, this passage passing from the pressure chamber or the connection of a passage connecting the latter wider by many times, up to the transverse deflection at the inner end of the nozzle passage more or less linearly and/or with a constant flow cross-section.
For numerous applications, more particularly for deep application in openings it is more expedient ergonomically when the nozzle axis is located transversely to the actuating axis or to the axis about which the discharge unit is clasped on being discharged manually or when the nozzle axis or the nozzle is offset to the side differently with respect to this clasping axis. In this case the nozzle, swirler or a nozzle core or filler cannot be fitted through the passage housing located in the actuating or finger-grip axis in the discharging flow direction of the medium or produced as a molding of a plastics material or the like, instead the nozzle part through which the nozzle orifice passes is to be fitted from the outer side of the head body, for example against the discharging direction which results in the risks as cited.